Alberta lays out plan to grow tourism industry

CALGARY - The provincial government unveiled a plan Tuesday aimed at growing Alberta’s tourism industry by 32 per cent by 2020 — a plan that calls for more development of tourist attractions in parks and on Crown land.

The new Alberta Tourism Framework, a strategy for turning what is currently a $7.8 billion industry into a $10.3 billion industry, was developed in consultation with Travel Alberta and industry representatives. It aims to build on Travel Alberta’s successful “Remember to Breathe” marketing strategy, convincing more travellers to seek out the Alberta experience.

One of several priorities of the framework is expanding the province’s supply of tourism experiences, especially in national and provincial parks and on Crown land near water, mountains or other natural attractions.

“Our mature iconic national park destinations are capped in terms of commercial growth, and we face strong competition from new, high quality destinations; there is an urgent need for new destination development in Alberta and outside the mountain national parks,” said the document.

No specific projects were mentioned in the document, but it said a number of potential tourism developments on Crown land have been identified and research will help find others.

Reegan McCulloch — assistant deputy minister for Tourism, Parks, and Recreation — said Alberta cannot afford to stand still when it comes to tourism development. While the province hosts more than 35 million visitors each year, the industry landscape is an increasingly competitive one. Countries like China, India, and Mexico have rapidly growing middle classes who for the first time have the resources to travel. And they’re not necessarily choosing the same destinations as North American or European tourists might.

“Going back to the 1950s to where we are now, Canada has actually slipped in terms of our rating as an international destination,” McCulloch said. “We all agree we need to either refresh or create new products and experiences that both local and international travellers are looking for.”

But the policy of opening up park or Crown land for tourism development may put the province and its tourism partners at odds with conservation groups.

“Alberta’s strength in tourism is wilderness,” said Jill Seaton, a member of the Jasper Environmental Association. “That’s what people are looking for now that there is none left in other countries and they’re coming here for wilderness tourism.”

Other priorities identified by the framework include improving direct air access to Alberta (securing another direct flight to Asia has long been a goal of tourism groups as well as the Calgary International Airport Authority).

The plan also proposes directing promotional efforts at “high potential” markets, which — in addition to the domestic market — include the U.S., U.K., Germany, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the Netherlands, India, and Mexico.

McCulloch said one area where Alberta has room for growth is in “experiential tourism.” That means developing large-scale community festivals to coincide with major sporting events, for example, or capitalizing on the “local food” movement by marketing Alberta farms and growers as tourist attractions.

“In years gone by, travellers would look for a culinary experience in a certain type of restaurant,” he said. “Nowadays, people may want to go for a nice meal, but they also want to see how it’s prepared — or they even may want to be part of preparing it.”

Key to the framework’s success, McCulloch said, is getting communities, tourism groups, and individual operators on the same page.

“When people come to visit us, whether they come to Calgary or the Rockies or the Badlands, they look at the whole area — they don’t look at one single area,” McCulloch said. “So we want to be able to do better planning, better coordination, and better delivery among those areas.”

In terms of overall spending by visitors, Alberta is fourth in Canada after Ontario, B.C., and Quebec. The provincial government estimates there are 19,000 businesses in Alberta that are supported by tourism.

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